Tempe woman fights home’s ‘hazard’ listing
By joshuah at 15 October, 2009, 6:13 am
A Tempe woman’s 911 call has uncovered widespread use of a police database that flags addresses across the Valley as hazards without ever consulting the people living in the houses.
Local and national law-enforcement agencies use the database to collect information about Valley residences. The information, filed into a computer-aided dispatch system, can include prior emergency calls to a home, as well as criminal activity or threats tied to an address.
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Eleanor Holguin discovered her address is on Tempe Police Department’s hazard list when she called 911 for a medical emergency in August.Holguin’s fight with Tempe had begun months before that 911 call. Earlier in the year, she had criticized Police Chief Tom Ryff in an unrelated matter, going so far as to say he should resign.
Then in August, she found her elderly father on the floor and called 911. As paramedics cared for her father, two Tempe police cars showed up.
Holguin said a paramedic said he wanted to speak to her and an officer outside. She said the paramedic asked if she had recently moved to the address or if she knew of any reason why her house would be “put on a hazard file.”
Holguin responded that her family had lived at the address for 40 years. Not familiar with a hazard file, she said she asked the paramedic to explain the term.
Holguin said the paramedic told her that “whenever we get that (hazard) dispatch on our call log it means we’re possibly going into a hostile situation. That could mean other things like you could be on some terrorist list.”
Holguin was dumbfounded. Then, she recalled the complaints she made against Ryff.
“It’s intimidation … because I spoke out” against the police chief, she said.
Holguin sent an e-mail to Tempe’s city manager and City Council and later met several council members to ask why her address was on the list.
On Aug. 14, Holguin got a response from City Manager Charlie Meyer: “You raised a question about your residence being listed as a potential ‘hazard.’ I have consulted with the city attorney and have decided that any such information related to any address in the city being listed as a potential ‘hazard’ to public-safety personnel is not appropriate to release due to the sensitive nature of such information.”
Source/Full Story: azcentral.com
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